DETROIT—Mazda is recalling nearly 540,000 older cars and pickup
trucks in the U.S. and Canada, adding to the growing list of models
under recall for air bags that potentially can explode with too
much force.
The Japanese auto maker said in documents posted Friday by U.S.
and Canadian safety regulators that it is recalling nearly 503,000
cars to fix driver's air bags and 35,000 small pickup trucks to fix
passenger air bags.
Affected models with potentially faulty driver's air bags are
the 2003-2008 Mazda 6, 2006 to 2007 MazdaSpeed 6 and the 2004 to
2008 RX-8. The company also is recalling 2004-2006 B-Series pickup
trucks to replace passenger side inflaters.
Some of the vehicles are part of a previous recall. Last year
Mazda recalled about 330,000 cars in the U.S. to fix driver's air
bags.
The vehicles are equipped with air bag inflaters made by Takata
Corp. of Japan that can explode with too much force, spewing
shrapnel into the passenger compartment. Six people have been
killed and more than 100 injured because of the problem.
Last month Takata and the U.S. government agreed to double the
number of inflaters it recalled to 33.8 million. The increase made
it the largest auto recall in U.S. history, according to the
agency. Eleven affected auto makers are gradually announcing makes
and models affected by the expansion.
The best way to tell if your car or truck is being recalled is
to key in the vehicle identification number at
https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/ . The number is stamped on the
driver's side of the dashboard near the windshield and is on many
state registration cards. Auto makers are still posting recall
information by number. So it is wise to keep checking
periodically.
For more details on the recall, go to
http://www.safercar.gov/rs/takata/index.html .
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press
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